A Sacrifice of Names

Chapter 8

I tried to look around. He was so close, I could feel it. Everytime his words reached me, whispered into my ear it was almost as if I could feel the brush of his lips against them.

I shivered at the thought.

"Where are you?" I asked again. I wanted answers. These dreams had not stopped since I was taken to Aves, but I felt like I was slowly gaining control over them.

"I warned you," he repeated again. It was all he said to me nowadays.

"Warned me for what?"

"The shadows..."

✒

The first thought that came to mind was to run. The man's deep, velvet voice promised nothing good, nor did the look on Keely's face. The most obvious question was, of course, if they had finally figured out that she had been nothing more than a fraud. A human in their midst.

Had that been the case she had expected Keely to look at her like vermin, not the worried look she carried now. Still, worried never meant anything good. These people were not here for one of her famous cups of tea.

"I was expected?" Earie asked to break the silence, trying her best to sound unimpressed. The man did not wait a moment longer. If she didn't come to him, he would come to her, it seemed.

Earie swallowed.

The profane smirk curling the ends of his lips made her want to do nothing more than to push him away as he nonchalantly slung his arm across Keely's shoulder, forcing her to tense up. His skin looked pale, a lot paler than most of the fae she had seen around here. That dark brown hair did not do much to colour his complexion either, but made his jesting blue eyes pop. And tall, he was taller than Keely, and without doubt a head taller than herself. Tall, slim and enchanting. Undeniably another pureblooded fae, like the two others behind him.

But neither of them looked like they belonged here, in Aves. These were the prince's guards Keely had mentioned before. These fae were the ones who would take her, and a few selected others to the Court of Shadows.

Nevertheless, it still wasn't an answer as to why they were here.

"This is her, Bren? I had expected another one of those blondes. Where is the light in her?" A woman with the same pale complexion as this 'Bren' joined in on the conversation, and to Keely's relief plucked the man's arm from her shoulder with a scowl on her uncanny features. He gave her a teasing grin in return.

"You ask me? It wasn't me who chose her. Their dear regent did." His gaze locked on Earie, only making her discomfort grow. There was something about him, something about all three of them. Keely might be a lesser fae, but she had sensed this 'light' they spoke of in Innogen. She had seen it dancing in the back of her eyes during their training, and her skin glowed unlike theirs. She didn't want to go as far as to say their skin looked dull, far from it even. But there was a darkness she couldn't quite place, crawling across those perfectly shaped cheekbones.

Her grandmother had always spoken of the Seelie and Unseelie court. Both inhabited by fae, but the one more malicious than the other. Old Norse mythology had something similar. The ljósálfar and dökkálfar. One living in the light, the other in darkness. It was perhaps naive of her to think that the Court of Shadows would be anything similar to the Court of Light. After all, if it was light they needed, it wasn't exactly surprising that they were bringing the darkness here.

"Maybe she could give a little demonstration of her powers, one of those lovely dances they always do." Bren said. The woman chuckled, but the other man remained silent. His face had not shown any kind of emotion ever since he had stepped into the hallway.